The Days of Our Ridazz.

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Wow. That cop sure was an asshole and he was caught red-handed. You should contact the media. The local media would probably love to pick up on something like this but they're more likely to report on it if they have someone to interview and confirm what happened. I would say that you should file a formal complaint against the LAPD but I don't think you would get a warm welcome at the local station. Maybe the media can help with the legal aspect.

The cop on the Far left of the video almost tackled me .. He looked at me then dove in the crowd ... I stopped and asked why was he doing that and he said and or the ride " No Lights" this happened all the way to vine .. and to the start of peoples .... This is a product of people yelling FUCK THE COPS for no reason ... GROW UP...

I posted before I watched the video . I saw the people on the curb get picked up at at random ..and round up like cattle ... The cop that was kicking bikes was just running at random and grabbing people NYPD style .. running full lane and grabbing people .. The people stopped got the worst I think.. Im to the left .... Later on Vine they did the same thing but blocked the right lane and forced riders to go left .... It was sad ..... I hope the illegally detained see this and get these officers for harassment .. if not more ...

LACM was about six hundred strong after the break we were headed north on LaBrea and east on Hollywood Blvd. a initial group of about 20 made it through the light on Highland and Hollywood,but most of the group got caught at the light. A few stragglers ran the red light and two cops on mountain bikes who were riding across the intersection turned to chase them, however one of the cops who was about 5’5” and 300lbs, in his haste and inabilty to do a decent track stand, turned and spilled in the middle of the intersection. There was cop gear, mountain bikes, and donuts lying all over the intersection. Cars stopped and all CMAS was parked at the red light watching this. On Highland and Hollywood!! on a Friday night!! at 9pm!! the busiest intersection in LA!! Lowriders, and tourists from all over american watching this roly poly LA cop, fumble around the intersection and his partner trying to help him up. So a few people started to honk their horns, and maybe a few of the CMAS riders might have laughed …a little loud…and pointed…and made piggy squeeling noises…?
The cops made their way over to the east side of the intersection and parked their bikes, as the light turned green and CMAS started to move east on Hollywood, the cops walked out to the center of Hollywood and tried to grab riders. About thirty riders made it past and the cops managed to nab one skinny sad looking emo kid, who stopped like a deer caught in headlights. the bulk of CMAS saw this and turned north on Highland. A few riders started to yell at the cops… pleading …politely … “let the skinny emo kid go!!”…” you fucking facist pig!!” About this time the cops called for back up, and within minutes there was a helicopter, motorcycle cops, several cop cars, and several cops on bikes racing up and down Hollywood stopping anyone that looked remotely to be affiliated with CMAS. As some of the lagging riders from CMAS rolled into the intersection cops would stop them. There was a pile of bikes on the side of the road and several sad looking skinny emo kids lined up, on their knees with their hands behind their heads.

There is a time and a place to cite a rider for not having a light on their bike, rushing them and tackling them in a huge crowd where not having a light is a vitural non-issue doe to the high visibility of the crowd of cyclists (after all, lights are meant to make bikes visible)is neither the time or the place, that is just common sense and I'm sure a judge would see it the same way.

It seems like the LAPD stil has a way to go in anger management and learning the difference between power-tripping and protecting and serving. They need to be trained in how to think in any given situation and use good judgment. Because common sense dictates that it's not always safe for a cyclists to stop at a red light or stop sign in a large ride, even cars block intersections all the time, you don't see them being pulled out of their BMW's and being tackled.

All the LAPD needs to do when they see CM is just sit and wait, and if anything, make sure no motorists are using their vehicles as weapons against other riders.

Motorists cause more deaths on the road than cyclists, they use tons of natural resources which cause global warming and more cares are used in the commission of drug crimes as well.

I've been to some peaceful, polite, and respectful Critical Mass rides in OTHER cities.

There is something needed to be addressed about why we are recieving such aggression from authorities during these rides.

In fact, there seems to be a by-product of aggression and disregard for common rules and safety that gets aroused during CM rides from our own side.

I'm sorry to say it, but I feel that the aggressive protest nature of Critical Mass is taking the future potential of bicycle friendly cities in a giant step backward, every single time.

Yep, I said it.

Let's focus on courtesy, respect, kindness, and common sense. All this attention from the media about police harassing cyclists really doesn't help our case because the population of non-cyclists just assume that we have created those conditions to occur from our behavior, which is mostly true a lot of times.

I am not justifying the cops behavior either. I can't stand their aggression as well.

My point is that - The victim card does not work except for Hit and Run situations.

Have CM win the favor of the major and other powerful figures due to our positive vibe and safety focused nature. Bring back Happy Friday.

Joe
I understand what your saying and I have seen the negative element; tagging, kicking cars, fighting. I hate to see people bring the gang mentality to a good ride. But I happend to be at the front of this CMAS ride and the cop actually grabbed my arm but could not hold on, before he stopped others. I blended into the crowd of tourists on the side of the road watching the whole thing. In this instance (if you read my post above) the cops were abusing their authority and power tripping.

You report and file complaints(which is what should be done), the police will no doubt crack down and give everyone a harder time during these events.
I filed a complaint on some officers a few years ago, after that, I was pulled over every 2 weeks and detained for a couple hours.

Why not go to the PD and ask for their help and cooperation with the problems that arise. We've all seen LEO help rides on occasion. So obviously they are willing to put out the effort sometimes.
Why not ask that some of the bicycle officers attend? Also suggest any officers who are cyclists in general attend, on or off duty.

the shitty gangsta mentality has to go.. sure we can do anything about it.. but hopefully we can soon, cause these mexicans(i say this cause i was riding near a group of them in hollywood) or lil wannabe gangstas are ruining the rides with their not needed yelling about FTP, a rule has to be enforced somehow..

when we were riding down olympic, some ppl on the corner were asking "why are you guys riding for?" somebody answered "FOR YOUR MOMMA!", surely they got all negative.
i slowed down and apologized, told them most of us were just riding for fun!. then they gave me the nod, i started to ride back and they yelled "THANKS FOR THE GENUINE RESPONSE".

i was behind a group of wannabe gangstas every corner theirs a couple,person,group asking why were riding.. they say something immature, shit like this has to be stopped..

when we were riding down olympic, some ppl on the corner were asking "why are you guys riding for?" somebody answered "FOR YOUR MOMMA!", surely they got all negative.
i slowed down and apologized, told them most of us were just riding for fun!. then they gave me the nod, i started to ride back and they yelled "THANKS FOR THE GENUINE RESPONSE".

-tekmo

HAHAHAH you're lame tekmo, im sorry for this but, I personally would've found "FOR YOUR MOMMA" hilarious. It's a nice quick and witty response for a rhetorical question like that.

Sometimes I like to yell out "AIDS" when they ask me that. Even though I'm not :\.. is that wrong? I'm just trying to have some fun, damnit.

You know, there were 600 to 800 riders last night. And maybe 20-30 douchebags on the ride. That's like three to five percent of the ride. Now get 800 cars together, how many douchebags do you get? Like 50%? Maybe more. Ask Roadblock or Big Bike Dan, they were on the ride last night. Was it all douchebags and gangsters? No, it was 95% good people, riding their bikes and enjoying a Friday night. There is a lot of self-policing on this ride. This isn't your father's Critical Mass. I've ridden SF Critical Mass, the ride all Critical Mass rides should emulate, they are disrespectful to car drivers and militant. LA Critical Mass is nothing like that, I am glad. More people cheered the ride last night than hated on it. More car drivers waved and honked their support then raged. More pedestrians asked, "how can I join this group?" then threw water bottles and spit. The bicycles riding down Hollywood Blvd in the video were not committing any traffic violations, they were riding on the street, just like cars use the streets. Just like the law allows them to. What happened to these riders last night was reprehensible. LA Critical Mass is the largest monthly ride in the city. The largest public display of bicycles in a city choked with car traffic. You can sit at home and complain about the 5% or you can come out and ride and help us lower the number of douchebags on the ride.

Yea the cop was way out of line and I feel he should be fired. We can not have people who cant control their rage patrolling our streets with a loaded gun.

With that said, I'm sure there were a few riders out of line too. Not justifying it, I'm just saying. I'm not saying the guy that got kicked was the one taunting the cops but he's the one that got the brunt of the cops frustration.

Please don't use our group as your sound board against authority. Most of the "ridazz" I know and ride with respect the police, so if you have a problem with cops and want to yell "Fuck the police" man up and say it to one directly, don't hide amongst a group of other ridazz thinking your all bad ass.

And ppl wonder why some rides are becoming by "invite", and not being posted.

"sure we can do anything about it..but hopefully we can soon, cause these mexicans(i say this cause i was riding near a group of them in hollywood) or lil wannabe gangstas are ruining the rides with their not needed yelling about FTP, a rule has to be enforced somehow"
WHAT???
"these mexicans" GTFO!

Unfortunatley last night was the first real "crackdown" ive ever seen on LACM sure weve had to deal with a few cruisers in the past but usually never more than about 4 at a time. Last night was crazy shit but was pretty exciting, sorry to anybody who got nabbed by the cops i saw alot of bullshit pull overs last night, remember to keep ur cool and stay in a group and it will be really hard for you to get fucked with. BTW anybody who got chased by that one cop thru echo park and escaped by riding Downtown and made it back to tell the tale is a fairly epic rider.

I was one of the Riders in the echo park pursuit, probably one of the most exciting experiences I've had in a long while, we had a patrol chopper (with spotlight) and a cruiser on us. I was on the Bright Yellow and Blue Traitor in the punk rock fit if you saw me... by the time we shook em I was on 7th and Fig in Downtown...

Please come and join us on Tuesday at the Bicycle Advisory Committee, that will have LAPD rep. Sgt. Krumer there. He needs to hear your complaints and only if we show up in force will this issue be heard and only then will we have impact on the PD.

If you have questions, you can always call Stephen Box at 323.962.6540. He's been talking to various people at the PD since 3am and filed complaints against the department. Stephen will be at the BAC as well.

Also email your complaint letter to Alex Thompson (alexcthompson@gmail.com) who is on the Cyclists/LAPD Task Force and who is taking the complaints to the next Cyclists/LAPD Task Force meeting.

Manny, local radio station KPFK 90.7 FM would like to interview you on the air about this incident. They would also be interested in interviewing anyone who was a direct eyewitness to what happened and would be willing to go on the air about it. If you are interested, please contact them at: sojournertruthradio [at] gmail.com

Only serious inquiries please.

BTW, this story will be on ABC Channel 7's 11:00PM newscast tonight, I just saw the promo which featured a short clip of Manny's video.

I'm a reporter for a local college radio station. I am looking to do a podcast about this. If anyone who was there feels comfortable doing interviews, let me know and let's set something up. However, since I do ride, it may be conflict of interest, but the story will be given to someone else who will proceed with integrity and respect. Thanks.

I was not at the last CM ride, but I was at previous ones and I can attest to the fact that anytime we hard sirens (fire dept, black and white, ambulence) the entire group was able to stop. Other than that without a loud auditory warning like a siren it's not possible or safe to stop at every light, just like cars who cause gridlock, sometimes you simply have to wait it out.

These officers used a safety issue that was a non-issue at the time as an excuse to create problems.

There is a time and a place to cite riders for not having lights, during a huge ride is not the time or the place and it's a safety hazard to do so, the purpose of lights is to be seen and if you're in a huge group you're perfectly visible.

I hope that the LAPD is properly trained with how to deal with cyclists, we are moving vehicles and therefore we are legitimate traffic, they may not cut into us with cars (unless it's an emergency) or rip us off our bikes simply becasue we are in large numbers anymore than they can cut into cars on the fwy or in gridlock on the streets during rush hour and rip people out of their BMW's.

The LAPD is showing an utter lack of respect for cyclists in singling them out and inflicting violence on them.

"And I agree with him ... (teenage boys) yelling FTP at the cops is stupid."

I agree, but what is stupider is grown, armed cops responding to them. I mean, the thought that this city is being patrolled by armed "adults" whom can't handle a bit of immaturity from a few children without over reacting is a bit scary. The vast majority of the riders are very respectful to everyone and the LAPD knows this.

i attended that night and heard from other riders that batons were thrown in spokes. do we know who exactly was taken down with this method? if so i would recommend that the wheel or mangled bike be taken to the conference as evidence shown as a brutal take down. torn or bloodied shirts as well.

i had a close call with the police car that pulled into traffic that tried to create a road block. i also narrowly avoided a collision with two riders that fell. i don't know if the accident was caused on their own or from police interference.
i find it funny though that no one is mentioning the circle of death on hollywood and highland that summoned the first police vehicle. yet when he showed up, we promptly left the area and continued on our way. then things got ugly. police vehicles blocking thru traffic and forcing riders onto oncoming traffic, or causing riders to go onto the sidewalk thus causing accidents. i live in fontana, and the easiest way to disperse a crowd is a helicopter and a loud speaker. if the crowd does not disperse, then the dogs are called in. simple and safe.

Penal Code 148(a) "resisting arrest" takes place when you resist, delay, or otherwise obstruct an officer from performing his/her professional duties.36 If, for example, you direct "fighting words" at an officer as a means of trying to delay or otherwise obstruct him from performing his duties, he could charge you with resisting arrest and disturbing the peace.

so Manny's outburst was just cause for his arrest, yet at the same time, no warning was given for him to leave the area otherwise an arrest would be made.

Being a principled man, knowing the Constitution and the laws in pursuance thereof, and having brought fourteen cases forward to the U.S. Supreme Court, it should be noted that there are only two classes of crimes, to wit, "High Crimes" and "misdemeanors." Constitutionally, in this country there can be no such thing as "Infractions." The term infraction was invented out of the imagination of the California Legislature in 1969 as a means of cutting costs measures to make more money out of the People. It was a planned design to avert the requirements of Article III, Sec.2, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution in avoiding mandatory criminal process. For instance, no Probable Cause pursuant to the 4th Amendment, no sworn Accusatory Pleading, no right to Assistance of Counsel pursuant to the 5th Amendment, no trial by Jury, and no victim necessary. It is purely an endeavor to squease more "revenue" out of the public for the gradual build-up and assertion of a police state. There is not one thing lawful or constitutional about this new invention of "infrations." The only constitutional provision for doing away with jury trials is clearly "empeachments," nothing more.
In a lawsuit against LAPD, the City Attorney objected to my questioning the police regarding these issues, agruing, "Objection, these police officers are not attorneys, and do not know the law." I responded, "If these police officers do not know the law, then what are they doing out there enforcing the law." The fact is, the entire system is operating in violation of very serious laws!

"You know, there were 600 to 800 riders last night. And maybe 20-30 douchebags on the ride. That's like three to five percent of the ride. Now get 800 cars together, how many douchebags do you get? Like 50%? Maybe more."

I haven't finished the thread yet, but this is very well said, as is the whole post. I know the element / attitude to which people are referring, but I don't like the implication that we as riders somehow have to live up to a higher standard because we're trying to make a point and/or change minds. We're human beings, just like the people in cars cruising up and down Hollywood Boulevard, and you can bet there's plenty of assholes - but also plenty of chill people out to have fun - doing that.

And yes, it's stupid to yell "fuck the police" - like, really stupid, especially if you want to lay low and actually participate in actions that really could fuck the police - but fuck, man. Sometimes it just has to be said. And if you're a person who has had shitty interactions with the cops, where you feel completely powerless and helpless in front of gun-protected state-supported power tripping, sometimes it just has to be said.

""invite rides" because it's easier than having the BALLS to call out anyone on the rides."

I've been saying this for a while, too, although I have to admit I say it without having been on a group ride for a while, so therefore without real knowledge of how aggressive certain groups of people are. But instead of bemoaning about the "bad element" on this forum, why not try to address the problem one on one, in person, with both sincerity and sternness? Am I being naive...because I don't think I am.

And as for not using the group as a sounding board against authority, well....some of us may not yell out fuck the police, but the reason we love riding in groups through the city at night is precisely because that action itself presents a challenge to everything, including authority, at times. The point is to understand that you're in a group, to respect others around you and use your judgment about whether a particular challenge to authority will negatively impact those around you.

This made the12:00 pm news today on channel 11. We were in Ricks having breakfast and they played on the tv. Interesting g because almost everyone in the restaurant turned around to watch. Few gasps, few bullshits....but people were genuinly shocked and upset about the police doing what they did.

This is an interesting quote from the Weho Daily article: "[The police] became concerned about traffic and the possible resulting interference to emergency vehicle response times, especially when the riders were in the Hollywood area. Fire department units were notified of the disruption."

We cyclists can get out of the way of an emergency vehicle much easier and quicker than a traffic jam of cars. I wonder if that was just a bullshit story / excuse, or if the cops genuinely don't understand how much more agile and quick a large of bikes is versus a large group of cars.

I have seen there are some CM douchebags who ignore sirens. But, yeah, most our rides clear the way quickly. Way better than drivers do. A lot of people see us as a nuisance and as less important citizens. It's plain biggotry if you ask me. I see the discrimination card as an important component to winning public favor. But we need to keep those small percent of knuclehead riders in check at the same time... Imagine if the media focused on the bad events of last month's CM... I won't get into it, but that could have backfired in our image and favor. You see what I'm saying?

Let's face facts. The cops and the car drivers have been abusing bicyclists in this city for years. It was finally caught on video. Now the whole world is watching it.

Amazing how things work out. The ride kind of split into two groups. The larger group, the riders at 7-11 and the upper part of Pan Pacific park, started down 3rd street following the music trailer. Zigzagging up to Beverly, then Santa Monica Blvd and finally down Sunset Blvd. Never actually riding on Hollywood Blvd.

A smaller group of 150-200 riders were left behind down at the bottom of Pan Pacific park. They were unaware that the larger group had left until about 15-20 mins later. This "Lost Ride" made their way up to Hollywood Blvd, trying to find the larger group. Fate entered the fray that evening.

According to @WehoDaily, they regularly monitor the police scanner and tweet updates, LAPD was alerted to the "Lost Ride" heading towards Hollywood. There was confusion and conflicting reports because they were also receiving reports from their helicopter about the larger ride heading down Santa Monica and then Sunset. The assumption was that this Critical Mass BP bicycle protest was going to converge on Hollywood from different directions and back up traffic on the Boulevard from Vine to La Brea.

When the "Lost Ride" hit Hollywood and Highland, the cops went into battle mode. Which is unfortunate because this "Lost Ride" group had no intention of doing any protest, civil disobedience or traffic disruption. They were just trying to get to the next rest stop at Sunset and Western and meet up with their friends. A simple and innocent wish that turned into a nightmare for some riders. Now it has become a defining incident for LAPD and Bicycles. How sad.

I agree 100% put a 1000 bikes on hollywood blvd and they'd clear traffic way faster than the typical car traffic that hollywood has on any given day.

It just comes down to a control issue.

Cops feel helpless if a cyclist in a mass disregards an order to stop they are virtually impossible to catch once they get out of arms reach. The cops feel impotent and frustrated to not be listened to.

Its easy to see how they could be scared and jacked up and start acting stupid.

There will always be knuckleheads that become cops. Its the responsibility of the Chief to make sure that (especially) the knuckleheads are trained properly so they don't start acting like little babies (no offense cry baby) and kicking innocent people when they are confused and frustrated.

We cyclists can get out of the way of an emergency vehicle much easier and quicker than a traffic jam of cars.

Ah, but what if those agile and quick bikes are partly responsible for creating that traffic jam of cars?

Clearly, bikes have a right to be on the streets just as much as anybody else (a point which, I've been told, used to be the the whole raison d'être of Critical Mass rides), but if they're taking up both lanes and blocking intersections during red lights, then the streets will be even more stuffed up with those big 4-wheeled metal carcasses than ever, will they not?

Back when people roamed around Hollywood in big packs of cars - you know: enjoying the public space, interacting on the city streets and gumming up traffic, much like some other groups we might all be familiar with - the city enacted ordinances to prohibit driving past the same point more than twice within 4 hours. And they not only enforced those laws, but cracked down hard.

I doubt that LA is going to treat bike rides in the same way (mostly because bike rides don't piss off nearly as many people), but when I read this, I can't help but imagine it as a chilling vision of the future (or maybe the present?) for bike culture:

"Members of Los Angeles and Orange County Nomads, a club for owners of 1955 to 1957 Chevy Nomads, used to cruise on a regular basis. Now they meet for dinner at local restaurants, hang out in the parking lots and talk about their cars."

Now ask yourself, is that what we want? Is it?

OK; that's enough reflexive system justification (and parentheses) for me this evening. What the cops did on Friday was clearly wrong, and I hope that the fallout from this incident encourages LAPD to get their priorities in order when it come to bike stuff. That is all.

Further, to suggest that cyclists were violating the law will never be an acceptable argument or a justification for LAPD actions that violate the law. To examine LAPD behavior in the context of “The cyclists started it!” is a non-starter. The LAPD is here to hold us all accountable to the law but they aren't above the law and they are never in a position to violate the 1st and 4th Amendments.

I haven't read anything really that said what happened after you were tackled. Were you and are you ok? Were you ticketed for anything? What happened when they tackeled you?

Some peeps were saying you shouldn't have posted the video, I think you did the right thing. The only ones that would not want you to post this is the cops! This thing is getting alot of attention cause you DID post it. 55.000 hits so far on utube. I hope you sue the s*** out of them!

This does nothing to increase tourism in Hollywood, and if I was the major, I'd be really worried how their cops act.

The LA City Council’s Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting was just covered on ABC Ch. 7 news.

5 officers have been taken off the streets (and put on desk duty, I suppose) while the LAPD completes its investigation. Police Chief Charlie Beck was at the meeting and told ABC 7 news that while CM is stressful for police officers they have to hold up a higher standard and shouldn't lose their cool like that, and that he wants the LAPD and cyclists to have a good relationship.

I was there, you guys should of came, there were three hot news correspondent chicks at the meeting all trying to get at shot at Manny. I love how the police spokesman lady lied about how she didn't see the video and then later on in the meeting she asked who didn't see the video and nobody raised their hand cause we all saw it so she said we didn't need to see the video then, but we proceeded to remind her about what she said earlier on in the meeting so she stumbled. She had to look at one of the other officers, and ask if she said that and he told her yeah you said it... so we watched the video. Police and their constituents, nothing but fat liars.

Also Chief Beck stopped by with his bodyguard for like 5 minutes and gave the same usual we support cyclist speech, said he promised he would return to a meeting (when another police brutality video surfaces) and left saying he had other shit to do. It felt like we got somewhere with them but not really, there was a feeling of no satisfaction as we left the building. Oh well, back to the same ol' same 'ol. Make sure you got your camera phones with video capabilities folks.

The LA Times online article is up and the feedback comments are absolutely ridiculous--so many uneducated opinions--so much anger towards cyclists--so much praise for the LAPD, not to mention complete lies being spread by people who say they were there, but obviously were not (one person said that the riders were throwing eggs at old women walking down the street).

Here's the link:http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/06/bicyclist-kicked-lapd-video-bp-protest.html

Post a comment. Tell them your side of the story. Educate these idiots.

Yeah I'm all over the forums defending Manny, every website I can imagine. There's some idiots on the youtube comments but I've been blasting them too. A bunch of liars saying they were there but are just mad at cyclist.

Like all of us just disappearing and going bye-bye forever will make kooks like this any happier.
They'll just find something else that angers them and express their true feelings through a board posting.

Seems too many people are afraid to express themselves out in the open and the potential of some restraining metal on the wrists.

Too much anger, not enough work, priorities tossed all over the place like a salad, no fork big enough to eat it.

Yeah, here's a sample of some of the comments on the LA Times comment page...

"REALLY ? Now maybe I missed something but I saw only one officer take a kick at one passing bicyclist which could have resulted in injury to the rider and not tolerated by the department. But the conduct by the remainder of the officers there seemed within reason in dealing with that guy with the camera who was obviously there to provoke a response by himself displaying poor conduct.Has that guy nothing better to do,I hope he spent the night in jail just for being an idiot.Thank You L.A.P.D"

"I was there and let me tell you, these bicycle protesters were very violent. They threw eggs and tomatoes and children and old ladies. They flipped off almost every person the saw. Many hit people standing on the sidewalks. If I was a cop I would have bashed in many more heads."

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you in my first post that I am an LAPD Police Officer. All you that are shouting "These guys should be fired" need to re-examine. Aren't we ALL innocent until proven guilty in a court of law?? Or does that not apply to the police? I looked at the video and saw a guy attempt to kick a bicyclist. You can't tell how close the guy on the bike came to the officer. Maybe he swerved at the last minute and the officer was trying to protect himself. Or, maybe not.. You cant tell from the video. I deal with these Midnight Riders all the time. They ride with disregard to public safety, run red lights and often cause traffic accidents. Sometimes they enter businesses in the area and terrorize the business owners and steal everything in sight. I try and cite as many as possible when I come in contact with them."

Most people are guilty until they prove there innocent.Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law only applies to law enforcement.Being a person that rides a bicycle around town I get to see first hand people that drive cars how they have disregard for public safety,run red lights and cause traffic accidents sometimes they enter bike lanes and terrorize the bicycle rider or run us down.But no word from you on how you want to cite them f

Wonderdave isn't a cop. He is just reposting the comments from the LA Times story about the Critical Mass tackle incident with the cops.

I laid into a guy on LAist because he said that he doesn't get threatened by cars (he lives in the OC and rides on the weekends) and those who do should look at their own behavior as the cause. I said that was bullshit and told him to fuck off.

Man you are quick to talk some shit. At least you reread it and realized you were wrong. Sad part is if this wasnt recorded no one would of believed a word of it for a second. Not police, not the media and not society in general. Cops are pretty much Innocent until Video Taped.

That sucked that this happenned but its one incident out of so many. Ive definitely heard of cops fucking with riders cause theyre on a power trip. fOR THE RECORD, THE LITTLE MEXICANS WERE HERE BEFORE ANY OF YOU. iTS THE COPS WHO NEED TO REALIZE FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

Joe Linton forwarded this announcement from LAPD to the old LACM email list:

"The Los Angeles Police Department supports and encourages responsible cycling as well as cyclists’ right to fair and equitable use of the roadways. The Department is also committed to protecting cyclist’s 1st Amendment Right to call attention to issues affecting their community.

In keeping with the Department’s mission, and in response to the cycling community’s calls for police involvement and participation, the LAPD will be present at the next Los Angeles Critical Mass ride scheduled for June 25, 2010.

Critical Mass attracts hundreds, and at times thousands of cyclists. People come together for a variety of reasons: To assert their desire for cleaner air, less congestion, safer roads, more infrastructure, and to celebrate and ride in solidarity with other likeminded individuals.

There are however some that use Critical Mass to mask their illegal and dangerous activities which generate multiple complaints from the community. These activities are counterproductive to the intended goals of Critical Mass. Among the documented incidents of concern are:
Vandalism
Thefts
Assaults
Criminal Threats
Drinking in Public
Smoking/using illicit substances
Driving/Riding under the influence
Running red lights/Stop sign
Crossing the center line or riding against traffic

The Department will support the rights of all persons to peacefully gather and bring attention to their cause.

LAPD officers will be present to ensure the safety of all those who lawfully participate and will take enforcement action against those who violate the law or the vehicle code.

Please remember:
Participants under the age of 18 must wear a helmet
Participants should have necessary lighting equipment
All bikes must have brakes or otherwise comply with the braking requirements

There was scheduled to be a civil jury trial in May for his lawsuit against LAPD and/or the specific pig(s) who terrorized him and tried to destroy the evidence. What happened in the trial, I don't know. This is just info that I happened to read on a police abuse blog.